Sword Song
by solar-sun
Summary: Fear, change, and hearing the beating heart of your blade. Why doesn't he want to? Why does he run away?\During that the Wadō Ichimonji lay in pieces at his feet and all he can think about is the one he inherited it from and the one who took her face.
1. Prologe

Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece or associated characters.

**Sword Song**

_Justice.._

_Everyone has a different way of thinking of it._

_Everyone has a different goal in life._

_Mine just happened to be centered on justice._

_Sometimes I wonder though if fate always had a different plan for me. My idea of Justice is a strong one but with the world changing so much, I see my ideal of justice also changing._

_Along with my view of pirates._

_Could one be a pirate and still hold justice in his hand? Could they still do good even if what they were called always was a sign of evil, of bad, of chaos._

_Didn't justice thrive in a settled non chaotic world?_

_I don't know honestly anymore. My drive for justice has seen so many things and I myself don't quite understand it._

_When my ideal is to keep the beautiful blades out of undeserving hands wouldn't that INCLUDE pirates?_

_But there he stands, always a few steps beyond me, running FROM me, as if I'm plague ridden. He yells about how I'm a copycat, how I'm not myself, and then he won't fight me._

_He calls himself a pirate but yet have I seen him do what pirates are known to do. Instead I see him save cities, save islands, and even save the world at times._

_How is that piracy when I'd call it a form of justice?_

_This line of thought confuses me and frustrates me. So I hunt him down. I want to feel his justice. I want to hear his blade sing with mine in a way two swordsmen would when there is a conflict of views._

_It's a beautiful song when one can hear it. When one isn't focused on power, on money, and on pain they sing. You can feel the heartbeat of your blade if you dance with another who understands. A beautiful_

_rhythm for a beautiful song._

_But this is just me and I've been told by many my views on such things are strange. Honestly I've been told by many I'm just strange in general. I've been told I'm strange, klutzy, and unique._

_And a copycat._

_I..just don't get him._

_But something drives me to WANT to as if that meeting on the street so long ago when he broke my glasses tied us together somehow. I first was angry, bitter by defeat. As a swordsmen he should have taken my life_

_but instead he spared it._

_A pirate shouldn't do such things. As a swordsman he had the right to._

_And now he won't fight me._

_Why?_

Author's Note: First One Piece drabble. Unsure with my writings with One Piece if I'll keep this a one shot or add more chapters later. It is inspired by the talkings of my boyfriend and I about Tashigi and what we see happening to her. I'm a sappy romantic so IF I decide to continue this to it's ultimate conclusion it will be a Zoro/Tashigi fic. How I'll get there I don't know. That's why it may just stay as a one shot._  
_


	2. Chapter 1: Adventure Calls

Disclaimer: Don't own any of one piece though my fangirlish tendencies want to own some..._mmhmm Zoro.._

**Sword Song**  
**Chapter 1: Adventure CallHis sword was broken.**

_Shit._

Zoro prided himself in his sword technique and his swords in general. Why was it that the Wado Ichimonji of all his swords was broken. And breaking during a training exercise...

_Of all my swords..._

This did not bold well for the swordsmen at all. Swords couldn't come back after being broken and normally he'd just go find a new one but...

_the Wado Ichimonji..._

There was no way he was just going to throw the sword away or retire it. The problem with that course of action was that you had really one chance to fix a sword and if it was blotched up there was no way in saving it. He didn't know any blacksmiths or armor's good enough to trust the Wado Ichimonji to. There was never a thought to worry about such things.

But there it sat broken and he without the foggiest idea on how to fix it.

The sword was the only thing he had linking him to Kuina and their vow. Sometimes when he was heavy into practice it almost felt like it held her heartbeat inside it, beating with the rhythm of his swings.

_Kuina..._

Then a flash of the shocked copycat came across his inner eye. The damn copycat who seemed to chase him to all corners of the earth demanding he fight her. How could he?

_..but..._

She seemed to be very knowledgeable about swords, able to recognize the Wado Ichimonji by just looking at it.

Maybe...maybe with her vast knowledge of swords that copycat would know of blacksmiths who could fix a Meitou. It meant he'd have to find that crazy copycat and talk to her WITHOUT her threatening to arrest him nor challenge him to a dual over her lost honor.

It made his head hurt just thinking about it.

Why her very existence unnerved him so damn much?

_Kuina..._

At the moment it was his only choice and he didn't even know where to begin searching. Most of the time she was on their trail but it had been quite a while since he had last seen the marine woman. A lot had changed in two years.

"Shit," He muttered, knowing this whole ordeal might be the death of him. Oddly enough battling other swordsmen didn't invoke the fear that just SEEING that copycat was having on him.

"Did you say something?" A voice outside the door asked poking his head in. It was his 'great' captain with a mouth full of meat. The dumb ero-cook was yelling behind him somewhere.

"It's nothing," He muttered looking away. Luffy's eyes looked toward the floor seeing the broken katana for the first time.

"Something wrong with your sword?" He asked stepping in and gulping down another bite of meat.

"I can't fix it. I don't have the tools or knowledge." Zoro huffed looking toward the wall.

"It just means we have to find someone who does! I smell an adventure!" Luffy quickly gulped down the last of the meat he had been holding and ran out of the room before Zoro who had been trying to stop him could.

"Nami! We're going on an adventure to find Zoro someone to fix his sword! Plot a course to where ever that is!"

Zoro slapped his palm to his face grumbling and standing up, sheathing the broken blade and stepping into the hall.

"I know SOMEONE who could help on this," He called after Luffy and toward Nami. "..I just don't know how to get in contact with them."

"It's a mystery woman!" Luffy squealed running on deck.s

Author's notes: I'm still fairly new at One Piece so please forgive me if characters seem OOC . I really fear that but I don't know one piece like I do sailor moon and trigun. So yeah it became a story in the end. It doesn't help that my work pretty much gives me ample time to THINK all day so I have a pretty rough outline of this story already plotted.  
Please review before you go and as always thanks for taking the time to read one of my stories.


	3. Chapter 2: Without a Paddle

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. If I did it'd be about Tashigi, Robin, and Nami being super magical girls that fight along side their side kicks (who happen to be the rest of the straw hat crew). Their magical pet would be Chopper and they'd have to find the super princess of the sea or something. Just be glad I don't! XD

**Sword Song**  
**Chapter 2: Without a paddle**

"So your telling me that we need to find a specific woman," Nami muttered her hand on her brow feeling a growing headache coming on.

"Yes," Zoro replied quickly.

"A specific MARINE woman," Nami continued her thoughts.

"Yes," Zoro added.

"And you don't even know her name?" Nami yelled and when Zoro was about to agree again she punched him.

"How the hell do you expect me to navigate to a woman when the only think we know about her is she's a marine! Not to mention SHE'S A DAMN MARINE! Are you TRYING to get us killed?" The woman was fuming at the swordsmen. In all their years together that damn man didn't have any senses besides his sense of swordplay. He couldn't even find his way out of a box most of the time.

Nami s right as usual marimo-head.

Shut up ero-cook.

They were getting ready to fight when Luffy popped his head in and said I don t see what the big deal is. We fight marines all the time. And women marines aren t that common. How hard could it be.

Nami left them all on the floor with giant bumps on their head to think about their stupidity while she walked away to cool off.

Sitting up, Zoro rubbed the bump on his head and let out a sigh of frustration. This did not bode well for him.

* * * * * * * * * * * *  
It was quiet. But not too quiet. Just the way Captain Tashigi liked it. She had just relieved the night watchman and was walking the decks one last time before climbing up to the crows nest to settle in for her watch.

She knew they weren t planning to reach their destination for at least a few days. Besides the normal delays and problems that went with traveling on the Grand Line, they were making good time. She had brought Kashu, the sword she had taken from the Baroque Works agent Mr. 11, with her to sharpen and polish as a way to pass the time on what she expected to be a calm evening.

Thinking about the sword reminded her of another sword she was hoping to capture on the Grand Line. The Wado Ichimonji, held by Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro. For just a brief moment she had held that legendary sword in her hand. She had even crossed swords with it s owner, though the song of the clash had been discordant, inharmonious. She was sure the sword was crying, resting in the hands of the bounty hunter turned pirate. She hadn t been able to hear the song well then because her own heart had been clouded with anger. Next time though, she wouldn t let him get away so easily.

She touched Shigure, by her side now as always, but now almost unusable. On their last mission she had fought with a man who claimed to have one of the O Wazamono, but it turned out to be a fake. Unfortunately it had caused her to miscalculate her strike. The result; her precious Shigure was now chipped and damaged beyond most forges ability to repair. Fortunately, the information they found on that mission was leading them to an island she knew quite well. An island where she knew of a great swordsmith who would be able to repair her blade. It had been many years since she last saw the island. And the swordsmith.

These thoughts in mind, she rounded the last turn in the corridor on her way to the armory.# She was surprised to hear footsteps, but imagined it was just one of the new chore boys. One named Yoichi was always forgetting things. She wasn t sure he was going to make it in the Marines but the boy showed enough potential to let him ship out.

Well, potential or not, I still need to scold him for entering the armory without permission.

She got to the door, then stopped dead in her tracks. She didn t know who these men were but they were not marines.

She had apparently caught them by surprise too because both froze.

Tashigi recovered first, drawing Kushu and moving to the ready stance.

Who are you? What are you doing on this ship?

Her question went unanswered because at that moment they both seemed to vanish. Her eyes widened as she thought she recognised the technique known as Soru. She knew what was about to happen. She knew she wasn t going to be fast enough to stop it. She also knew she had to try. She spun, swinging her sword at a target that wasn t there yet. When the first of the two men appeared behind her, his sword was already at the ready to catch hers.. If it had been one-on-one she knew she would have had a chance. She had nearly pushed his own sword back into his body by the time he stopped it. But there were two of them and when the second appeared, his club was already in full swing. She couldn t jump back or the sword would get her. She wasn t strong enough to push forward. The walls blocked her way on either side. She could only hope to roll with the blow and come up fast enough to be ready for them.

The club hit her. And stopped. No impact. No pain. She had already started rolling back and ended up tripping over her own feet when she didn t have as much momentum as she was expecting. When she looked up again to find out what had happened, she saw both assailants wrapped in a billowing cloud of smoke.

What do you think you re doing to my subordinate?

She couldn t see him through the door but she knew who it was. Vice-Admiral Smoker!

I think you boys owe me an explanation Smoker said, keeping his grip on the two firm. What are you doing on my ship?

Neither one of the assailants spoke up though. They were too busy struggling to break free of the smoke from his devil fruit powers.

Tashigi, raise the alarm and get up on deck. We need to make sure these clowns don t have friends lurking about.

Yes sir! She got to her feet and headed for the door. But then, in the brief quiet she noticed a hissing sound. It was very familiar but she couldn t place where she had heard it before. She glanced back and saw it s source. A trail of gunpowder straight to several kegs. And a tongue of fire dancing along that trail.

Vice-Admiral Smoker! He had turned his attention back to his prisoners but hearing her tone he whipped his head back around and saw what had her so spooked she forgot his promotion. Without a word he sent a billow of smoke that blew Tashigi out the port hole. He knew he wasn t going to make it in time to stop the fire.

The water hit the Captain like a slap. A cold, very wet slap. It brought her to her senses enough to struggle back to the surface.

Vice-Admiral Smoker! Tashigi gasped out as she found air again. As if on cue the ship shook with a loud explosion; fire blasted out the port hole Smoker had pushed her through. She had to get back up on deck, Tashigi realized. There were crew members to save and she had to get Smoker out of there if he hadn t died in the explosion. He couldn t swim after all! Quickly she swam over to one of the life boats next to the ladder along the hull of the ship and began to quickly climb. Another explosion shook the ship, this time breaking the hull above her and causing the ladder she was using to go slack and fall. Her scream of frustration was cut short as the water embraced her a second time. As she struggled toward the surface another explosion sent her spinning, leaving her disoriented. By the time she managed work out which way the surface was the ship had been reduced to little more than floating planks.

She spent hours swimming, diving, hoping against hope to find others who had survived. She swam through the wreckage until her arms felt like wet noodles and her legs screamed with pain. In the end, all she found were a few bodies. The rest had been completely claimed by the sea.

Exhausted, she managed to drag herself onto what probably used to be a lifeboat. She knew she would cry later and was pretty sure some of the salt water on her face wasn t from the sea, but right now she was beyond even that. Exhaustion had long since taken over and fatigue wouldn t let her do anything but lay on the battered remains of her ship. A thought trickled into her mind and she reached for her side. Shigure was still strapped to her side but Kashu was probably on it s way to the bottom of the Grand Line to join her nakama.

Lieutenant Takao; on his way to a new command. Warrant Officer Danjuro; always had some sake stashed away but hated drinking alone. Petty Officer Kamatari; loved telling jokes but was never very good at it. Seaman First Class Bunzo; knew not only every knot from the navy academy but pretty much every other knot in existence. Seaman First Class Ryoma and Isako; very deeply in love and the only ones unaware of it.

Yoichi and Hirotaka, the chore boys.

Seaman Apprentice Gonkuro, a new sailor, but one who showed promise.

Two recruits who s names she hadn t even had the chance to learn yet.

Vice-Admiral Smoker.

Tears that refused to come to her eyes still flooded her heart as her body and mind shut down. Pain faded and soon everything was darkness.

Yes I have updated and yes I am working on it. I've gotten a bit farther in one piece and had to adjust accordingly to the newest chapters to the titles smoker and Tashigi had gotten so bare with me. Next week chances of another time skip tashigi and smoker are probably quite higher so I'll be paying attention and updating and fixing the story as such. I do like her new look though :3. I can't wait to cosplay it! I have changed a little bit the last two chapters as well and they should be updated when I post this as well. Thanks for all the comments and reviews of this story thus far! Please review as you go and thanks for taking the time to read one of my stories!


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